Tag Archives: cat

Photo Friday: Sleeping on the Job

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I work one day a week in South Tampa and sometimes stop at a Walmart near my job. Several weeks ago I was approached by a friendly black cat as I neared the entrance.

I was at that same Walmart again Wednesday morning and saw the same black cat napping at the door. My first thought was that Walmart hired a security cat that was sleeping on the job. I stopped and pet the cat for a minute before going inside.

I did not know if it was a male or female and thought the cat was either well fed or pregnant. After looking closer at the photo, I think one of the ears is tipped meaning the cat is fixed. I don’t know if Walmart or some of the employees had anything to do with fixing the cat or taking care of her, but if they did then kudos to them.

Frankie’s Scary Outing

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I took Frankie out for a walk on Saturday. Everything went well for the first ten minutes or so. He did the usual. He smelled some plants, rolled in the grass and sat and listened to the birds.

We ended up near our community’s clubhouse about a half block from home when a nearby car’s alarm went off. Frankie didn’t do anything at first, he just seemed concerned. Then, after a few seconds, he started running.

I should note here that anything other than a very gentle tug on the leash will cause Frankie to turn toward me and then back away with as much force as he can muster. This always leads to him slipping out of his harness, which is extremely easy to put on but not secure when Frankie backs up. Because of that I always try to keep pace with Frankie. If he runs, I run. Usually he hears the sound of my footsteps and that freaks him out a bit so he stops and looks around. That is what happened Saturday when he started running.

After he stopped and looked around, the alarm was still going off so he started running again, and again he stopped when he heard me. By then we were far enough away from the car and the alarm may have been stopped, I don’t remember. I just remember that I thought the running was over so I loosened my grip on the leash. Just then he started running and the leash slipped from my hand.

He was heading straight for home and running at full speed. I tried to keep up but couldn’t. I assumed when he reached our house he would wait by the front door until I could open it. He didn’t. Instead I watched him squeeze through a small hole and go under our house.

He has done that before and it is always a concern but this time it was especially scary to me because he was dragging a leash behind him. I had no Idea how far under the house he would go or what, if anything, the leash might get caught on while he was under there.

When I got home I immediately peeked through the hole and saw he was just sitting there, about three or four feet in. I pulled some bricks away to make the hole bigger and tried to talk him out of there but he wasn’t having it. He seemed nervous, which is unusual for Frankie because he pretty much ignores the vacuum cleaner and barely notices when the garbage truck comes by for our trash.

I fed them a short time before we went out but I thought I might entice him out with some tuna that I bought recently for a special treat for them. I went in the house, opened the can and put it on three plates, because Chris and Floki smelled it and were in the kitchen waiting for some. I put two plates down then brought the third plate outside and put it in front of Frankie’s nose but he ignored it and instead was more concerned with what was happening across the street.

I gave him some time and after about five minutes he decided to come out but his right paw was stuck in the harness. Fortunately he was able to move close enough for me to pull him out. During all that excitement, I forgot to take pictures.

After I put him in the house I went back out and got his plate of tuna. He eagerly ate it all. All’s well that ends well, I guess.

Stubborn Cat Chris

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Chris has always been a stubborn cat. It has always been an impossible challenge to get Chris to behave in a way that we want him to behave. Usually the problem is trying to get him to stop doing something but sometimes getting him to do something can be equally difficult. Like the other day when I was trying to vacuum and he refused to move from his spot. Most cats are afraid of the vacuum but Chris is much more concerned with hanging out near his food bowl (which I picked up before vacuuming).

Who else has a stubborn cat? Or should I ask who doesn’t have a stubborn cat? I don’t think dogs are as stubborn as cats but I’m sure they are out there too.

By the way, if you have not subscribed to my YouTube channel, please do so by clicking here and then click “Subscribe.”

Photo Friday: Classic Flying Holly

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I dug into the archives and found a couple of photos I took nine years ago yesterday. This is Holly who lives with my sister-in-law, Felice. Holly is the original bad cat and my wife and I always wanted to take her home when we would go there to visit. That was before we got Chris and found out how much work a naughty cat can be.

Holly loved jumping and catching pieces of paper or toy mice.

I have not visited in a while but I believe Holly is still doing well. She is several years older than Chris but she did not put on the weight like Chris did.

I featured Holly several times on my blog, Just Fur Laughs. Click here for an example of one of my favorites.

On the Road Again

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We got to our hotel room yesterday a little after 2:00 p.m. It was relatively early but the cats needed a potty break and my back was hurting from the car ride.

On the way to West Virginia we stayed at a Home2 by Hilton in Columbia South Carolina. It was a nice room inside the hotel where I didn’t have to worry much about Frankie escaping because even if he got out of the room he would still be contained inside the hotel.. This time we stayed at a Best Western in Walterboro, South Carolina. It was an outside room and not nearly as nice.

Going both ways I wanted our second day to be slightly shorter than our first because I figured we would be sick of driving by the second day, plus we needed more time to settle in at home. So with that in mind, Walterboro was the only option.

Rose typically likes to stay at Hiltons or Marriotts but those hotels, at least in Walterboro, did not allow pets. My only choices were Best Western, Econolodge, Motel 6, etc. We both thought Best Western would be the best of the worst so we picked that one. We may have been wrong.

We got a room near the end and when we pulled in a calico cat immediately came up to our car with a big story. I happened to have Stella and Chewy’s readily available in the truck so I put some down for her while Rose put the top down so we could remove our cats.

Rose thought she was pregnant but then we noticed she was ear tipped. I think she is just smart and knows how to get food out of visitors. It worked on me.

When we got in the room we noticed it smelled like dog. It also was covered with old carpet and Rose was worried about fleas. I wanted to put the litter box on a hard floor, not carpet, for ease of cleaning, but the only hard floor was in the tiny bathroom. I couldn’t put it there. Rose suggested putting it on a towel, which I did.

It wasn’t long before Chris pulled the towel back and then dumped a bunch of litter on the exposed carpet. It was then that I realized I had forgotten to bring a broom and dustpan. All I could do was pick it up with my fingers.

What surprised me was when Chris got into the crate that he was trapped in all day. I found Floki in the smaller crate too but I did not get a photo of that.

I went out later to get dinner and brought some food out for the stray. It was then that I noticed a shy black cat hanging out with the calico. Frankie noticed too.

We left this morning around 6:30. The first thing I did was bring out bowl of wet food and a bowl of dry food for the calico and black cat. The calico was there eating the wet food as I loaded the cats in the car. I never saw the black cat again. Perhaps he was waiting for us to leave.

It is now 8:00 a.m. and Floki is still howling. Yesterday it lasted three hours and then another two hours of on and off crying. Hopefully today will be better.